Calvin and Hobbes: A Surprise Destroys Reality (COMPLETE!)
by Gameknight17
Summary: A new mystery is in town, and Calvin and Hobbes are on the case! But little do they know that this case's answer has a surprise that destroys life as they know it.
1. One Month Left!

It was just another typical spring day. Four months had passed since the "Let's go Exploring" incident, when Calvin and Hobbes had gotten lost for an entire day. Calvin had just gotten off the bus and was celebrating the fact that there was only a month of school left. "A HA evil monster," he shouted after the bus after it left his stop, "You can only take me to you sacrifice for your god, Nollij for another month, than you monsters will go into hibernation! Ha ha ha!"

He started walking toward the house. He opened the door.

"I'm HOME!"

BANG!

Hobbes shot out of the door at the speed of light, grabbing Calvin and rolling all the way across the street with the boy in his claws.

"Hobbes!" Calvin yelled, "I was busy celebrating!"

"Sorry, but you know I need my exercise."

"Then pounce on Mom, not me you furball!"

They went inside and Calvin stormed up to his room, but when he got there he celebrated that school was almost over.

Two hours after the "party" had ended, Calvin was called down to eat dinner. "Hi Mom," he said, what horrors do your glops of doom hold tonight?"

"None, sweetie," she responded, "I ordered pizza tonight."

Calvin's mom had begun to accept the reality that Calvin considered her food was worse than arsenic. She set the table as Calvin went to get his dad. She hadn't been feeling well, so she had gone to the doctor earlier that day. She didn't expect him to call back for a week at least. That was why she was so surprised when the phone rang.

"..so that's how the world turns."

"Dad," Calvin responded as he walked into the kitchen, "Do you really think I'm stupid enough to think that all day, someone turns a big crank to make the world turn?"

"Maybe," his father retaliated, he hadn't had a good day at the office.

They sat down at the table and Mom joined them about a minute later. She was jittery and looked excited. "Dear," she managed, "I have a surprise for you."

Calvin looked confused. "What surprised?" he asked, "Is it for me?"

"No," his mom responded, "And it won't get here anytime soon, so eat your pizza and go do your homework."

Calvin looked wounded. He had gotten homework the day before. He had to write three pages about what he would do over the summer. This project made up 50% of his final grade, so he had to do it well.

Calvin stuffed the rest of his pizza in his mouth, then, still chewing with his mouth half open, walked toward the stairs.

 _Calvin the zombie shambles through the wreckage of an old house, looking for a survivor of the zombie apocalypse to devour. He manages, somehow to make his way up the half broken steps and through an open door. Their, under the covers on the bed, Calvin sees a victim. He moans, hoping that the dinner-to-be will try to run, and make it fun for him._

"So, Calvin," Hobbes remarked, snapping the boy out of his imagination, "you have to do your homework, huh?"

Hobbes was lying on the bed, partly under the covers, reading a Captain Napalm comic book.

"Yes, Hobbes," Calvin retorted, weakly, then he got to work on his assignment.


	2. A Mystery!

"WOO-hoo!" Calvin was, once again, getting off the school bus. It was a Friday, and there were only two more days of school left before summer vacation. He started running toward his house, then remembered that Hobbes usually jumped on him when he opened the door.

So Calvin opened the door, ducked, then jumped on Hobbes, giving him a hug. "This time I gotcha, buddy!" he shouted.

Hobbes decided not to maul Calvin and go with the hug, after all, he liked them, especially from Calvin. Hobbes was dragged into the house as Calvin danced around and celebrated. Completely forgetting that his three-page essay, of which he only had one page done, was due on Monday. Mom looked around the corner of the kitchen hallway at Calvin and cradled her stomach, but she also hid a smile.

Calvin ran upstairs and belly flopped on his bed, he bounced off the other side, landed next to his desk, and noticed his essay. Calvin gulped, then set to work.

 _Tracer Bullet, private eye, is doing paperwork. He's so bored that he's doing_ work _to get un-bored._

An hour later, Calvin had added a half-page, but he couldn't concentrate, so he went downstairs to see if dinner was ready. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, Calvin heard his parents talking in the living room. Calvin put his ear to the keyhole in the door and listened.

 _Tracer Bullet has heard of a new mystery that he's to solve, but no one's come to him about it, so he decides to investigate of free. He hears the commissioner and his wife talking, while he's in a local bar. This seems odd so Tracer decides to investigate._

Mom and Dad were talking while Dad drank some coffee. "It's great news," he responded, "I'm happy and I'm sure it'll put Calvin out of his comfort zone, tho afterward I'm sure he'll be happy."

 _Tracer Bullet is out of his zone! He hears the Commissioner talk about torturing him! He decides to retreat, and investigate later with his new friend, Spaceman Spiff._

Calvin retreated back upstairs, went into his room and worked until his mother called him down for dinner. When that happened, he had two pages complete. At dinner, Calvin regarded the usual slop like it was pure poison until his father said that, "If you eat it, you'll turn so old that you partially rot. That's why I put this special sauce on it, so it doesn't affect me"

After dinner, Calvin and his father set up Monopoly. By Calvin's bath time, Calvin owned Boardwalk, Park Place, New York Avenue, and Reading Railroad. While Dad owned Pennsylvania Avenue, Pacific Drive and North Carolina Street, all were mortgaged and Dad was bankrupt. Calvin had won!

Calvin went to bed, content and happy. In the morning, Calvin waited until his parents were both in the living room, drinking coffee, then went downstairs, dragging Hobbes and holding two dart pistols.

 _Tracer Bullet, along as his new friend Spaceman Spiff are at the Commissioner's hotel room. The Commissioner's house is being disinfected of termites. Tracer Bullet listens at the keyhole, while Spaceman Spiff listens at the bottom of the door._

"I don't see why we are listening, Calvin. After all, your parents said that they would tell you, didn't they?" Hobbes pointed out.

"Shut up, Spiff," Calvin retorted, I'm trying to listen!"

 _After his friend is silenced, Tracer returns to the door. It is deadly silent in the hotel room. he can only hear a slow, muffled, thump. Too late, our hero realizes that the Commissioner is coming to the door. He grabs his gun, and so does Spiff, who's blaster is set to "Rare". The Commissioner bursts through the door, Spiff and Tracer fire!_

After the plastic darts settled, Calvin was grounded for the rest of the weekend. He had to pick up all the darts, eat breakfast, and stay in his room to finish his homework, and then clean his extremely messy room.

When Calvin had finished cleaning his room (he'd done that first), it was time for him to go to bed. The next day tho, Calvin was ready to investigate.


	3. The Surprise Revealed!

After church, and he had done some of the time in his room, Calvin left, Hobbes following behind him. "We need to see what the big mystery is," Calvin whispered to Hobbes.

"And how will we do that, Calvin?" asked Hobbes, "and anyway, you're still supposed to be in your room."

"Hobbes!" whispered Tracer, "Call me Tracer! Tracer Bullet! And investigators have to break the laws sometimes to get justice!"

"Oh," Hobbes said, "You're in the 'imaginary zone'."

Calvin's brain went into overdrive.

 _Tracer Bullet and his not-so-trusty assistant, Tiger Eye, are listing at the door of the police commissioner's living room, after having escaped from jail. The Commissioner, Tracer is pretty sure, is in on the mysterious whisperings going around town. He also, Tracer heard while in jail, had a pretty big part in putter Tracer and Tiger Eye in the slammer. Tracer hears the commissioner's meticulous wife's voice._

Out of Calvin's imagination, and on the other side of the door, Mom and Dad were having a conversation. "I don't know, honey," asked Mom, "Should we tell him?"

"i think we should," Dad responded, "otherwise he's going to continue snooping around until he finds out, or gets grounded for life."

"True," Mom chuckled, "he might be if he keeps investigating."

 _I heard them talking about a surprise, evil no doubt, and how if they found me, I'd be going to jail for good. I heard a noise behind me, turned like a flash, and drew my pistol all in one swift movement. I thought one of the commissioner's goons was onto me, but, thank the stars, it was only Tiger Eye. He asked me, "what's going on in there?"_

 _"Something about a surprise. And they said if they found me, they'd put me in the slammer for good. The commissioner's wife seemed to find it funny."_

 _"Who's the commissioner? and who's his wife?" my feline friend asked, "oh wait, you mean your parents."_

Back on the other side of the door, Mom was crying a little bit. "I have to go now," she pointed out to her husband, while looking at her watch, "I'll be back around six. Order pizza again, will you. And please make it Canadian Bacon, I'm sick of pepperoni."

"Sure, dear," Dad responded, "But when you get back, tell me, and we'll tell him at dinner."

 _Tracer hears the footsteps coming toward the door, he jumps out of the way and races out the door, he is back in the jail cell. He jumps on the heap of junk they call a bed. He's safe._

"C'mon, Hobbes, let's go over the evidence we collect on our little "bathroom break"."

Calvin who, while not wanting to get in trouble, wanted to go over the evidence had named their breakout the "bathroom break" so that he wouldn't get caught.

"Alright," said Hobbes, who really did want to know what was going on, "Here's the list of facts:

1\. Your mother has gone to see the doctor a lot lately.

2\. It's extremely important, as she was called back later that day.

3\. Your parents are considering telling you about it, so it must concern you.

and finally, 4. We're having Canadian Bacon pizza tonight."

Hobbes looked at Calvin. Calvin looked at Hobbes.

"I have an idea!" Hobbes exclaimed, "Either your mom has a very serious disease because of you, and the cure is Canadian Bacon, or that without the Canadian Bacon, or she's pregnant and is going to learn the gender of her new child now. If it's the last one, I'd have thought that she'd have learned from you not to have any more, but I guess not."

"I'm hoping that it's none of the above, Hobbes," Calvin stated, "I don't want a sister or brother, but I don't want my mom to be sick because of me either. I don't want her to be sick, period."

"Now," Hobbes began, "lets party because, remember, you only have two more days of school left before summer."

Calvin had just started dancing around on his bed, when he heard the motor of a car coming up the street. He looked out his window, but it was only the Derkins returning from a family trip to a lake house that weekend. He started dancing around again when he heard the telephone ring. He opened his door a crack and put he ear to the keyhole and his eye on a mirror aimed out the door.

He heard his dad pick up the phone and say, "Yes, speaking... uh huh... sure... I'm glad... it its?... It is!... okay... yep, the pizza is on it's way. It'll be here a little bit after you... Sure, we can tell him over dinner... Love you, bye!"

Calvin saw his dad pump his fist and started doing the conga down the stairs, but he had changed the words to: "Not another one, hey!"

Calvin briefly thought his father had gone completely crazy.

Hobbes, who had been looking out the door without a mirror, remarked, "He's really happy you guys aren't getting another pepperoni pizza."

Half an hour later that night, Calvin's mom got home from the doctor, she was smiling and whistling while she walked in. Calvin again briefly thought one of his parents had gone temporarily crazy, but figured she must have been give some kind of drug at the doctor's office for whatever thy had been doing and this had made her tipsy.

About ten minutes after that, the pizza boy came up to the driveway and dropped off the pizza at the door. Calvin couldn't hear what he was saying, but assumed he was just asking for his payment. A minute after the pizza boy left, Calvin heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He quickly jumped to his desk, where he started writing on his not completed homework.

When his dad got upstairs, Calvin had already written all the three pages of his essay. "Good Job, Calvin!" his father exclaimed, "This is pretty good. I'm glad that you did your homework while you were in your room. After dinner, we'll play Monopoly together, okay?"

"Fine," Calvin murmured, "what's for dinner?"

"Canadian Bacon Pizza. I know you like pepperoni, Calvin, but your mother and I are getting a little tired of it."

"Fine," Calvin murmured again, he was getting into character.

"WHAT!" Calvin yelled at the to of his voice, "Wadda ya mean next school year you hafta check my homework!?"

They had just opened the T.J.'s pizza box and Mom was getting out slices. "We mean," she said, "that your grades have been going down lately. We need to make sure they are at least a C to an A plus."

Calvin considered this, "Alright, but one condition," his parents groaned, "I don't hafta get an A or anything with and A."

His parents looked at each other. "Alright, Calvin," Dad responded, "but if you get an A or higher, I'll take you out for a scoop of ice cream."

Calvin's eyes bugged open, "Alright."

"Now, honey," Mom started, looking a little scared, "we have a surprise for you. It's really special and we want you to take really good care of her."

"Her? Wait! You mean I'm having a baby sister!"

Calvin's mom nodded and held up four fingers.

Calvin understood. He had only four more months until he wasn't the only child. And [\probably the last month would be focused on his mother and his new sister, not him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Calvin stood up on his chair and shouted to the sky.


	4. Freedom!

"I don't know, Hobbes," Calvin said, lying in bed.

It was the end of the second to last day of school, and Calvin had turned in his essay, which he was going to get back the next day. After having a nervous breakdown the night before, Calvin had gone to bed and contemplated what he was going to do.

"This is against at least twenty-two G.R.O.S.S. rules, but she _is_ my sister. What should I do?"

"Well," Hobbes suggested, "Maybe you can be nice to her and extremely gentle around her. Babies are extremely fragile. Their bones are like cardboard, soft. Treat her gently so you don't hurt her. If you did hurt her, your parents would kill you."

"Yeah, that's true," Calvin responded, "I should be careful around her, and I might like her, but I'm still afraid that she'll take all the attention from me and my parents might not know if I exist."

Hobbes didn't looked concerned, "Well, at least you'll have me, old buddy."

He gave Calvin a hug. Calvin fell asleep in Hobbes' warm, fuzzy hug.

The next day, Calvin slid down the banister, ate only one box of Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs, and rushed out to the bus faster than the speed of light. Susie wasn't even there yet. Calvin waited five minutes before Susie came out, dressed in a nice shirt and a magenta skirt. She also had a bow in her hair. "Hi Calvin," she said, "How're you doing? I assume pretty well since it's the last day of school. Or maybe bad because, night before last, you screamed so loud it probably registered on the Richter Scale."

"Okay," Calvin responded, "There's something I didn't tell you yesterday, I'm going to have a baby sister."

Susie squealed, "Really! How long 'til she's born? When she is, can I see her? Have your parents given her a name yet?"

"Four months, maybe, and I don't know!" Calvin answered.

The school bus pulled up. Calvin got on, sat in an empty seat, and moped until they arrived at school. When he got into his classroom, he saw Mrs. Wormwood passing out the essays that she had graded the previous night. Calvin sat down at his desk and when the teacher handed him his paper, gawked at the grade. A+.

"Good Job, Calvin," said Mrs. Wormwood, "I'm very proud of you. Your grade average for this year is a B. Congratulations!"

Calvin gave her a half-hearted smile. Mrs. Wormwood moved on.

After the teacher had passed out all the essays, she talked to the class. "Today, students," she reported, "we're going to empty our desks and our lockers. Please clean out your desks, first, then your lockers."

Calvin spent the remainder of the morning cleaning our his desk. he had to clean up the water from the slushball that had melted before he hit Susie with it, a bunch of dinosaur drawings, about thirty pencils, two pens, a ruler, and and old, evil lunch bag.

 _Spaceman Spiff is exploring a new planet. He's crawled into a cave, but amazing fume surround him, he stumbles and falls! He lands in a candy kingdom! There are brownies as the floor, lollipop trees, and Ice cream mountains, but the vision is fading! Spiff, atop an ice cream mountain, sees it change into an old, moldy cheeseburger._

"I hate leftovers at school," Calvin stated after having thrown his lunch away.

"For once," Susie responded, "I can't blame you." She'd thrown her lunch away as well."

After their short not-lunch break, Calvin's first grade class headed back to the halls to empty their lockers. By 3:30, Calvin's backpack was full to bursting and he was carrying a stack of old homework that was so high, it went above his spiky yellow hair. He dumped the homework, rushed out the door, and gratefully got on the bus. When it stopped, he ran out yelling to high heaven: "FREEDOM!"

 _Guys, I am so sorry that I haven't updated much for the past two months. I hope you had an amazing Halloween and will have an amazing Thanksgiving. Lately, I have been swamped with school work. I have to read books, to reach my reading goal, I have to write three pages for reading and science! And when I get home I have to "DO YOUR CHORES! DO YOUR CHORES! DO YOUR CHORES!" I'm not making excuses, but I need to work on things at home and at school. The Calvin and Hobbes story is completely finished, and I've submitted it to NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month). It's a great thing to do. You set a word goal and try to reach it by the end of the month. (For school, the goal was 3000 words. I got that done pretty fast. My total is something like 7875 words.) I hope you have a nice Christmas, too (If I don't update before then.)!_


	5. It's Nearer!

"I'm sorry dear," Mom told Dad, "but since I'm pregnant, I really shouldn't go to the island next week. It's for the baby's health."

"It's fine, dear," Dad responded, but he looked a little down, "The Derkins said that they'd like to go with me and Calvin this year. It'll only be a week and we'll all be in separate tents. Me and Calvin in one, Mr. and Mrs. Derkins in another, and Susie gets her own."

Calvin spat out his Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs, "WHAT! The Derkins are coming camping with us! Why!?"

Dad turned to Calvin, " I expect that you won't do any of this "Gross" stuff, okay? If you make it through the week without doing anything that mean to Susie, than after the week is over, we'll go to the Natural History Museum. Okay?"

Calvin nodded vigorously, tho I don't know if he was agreeing, or if that was the cereal speaking.

A week later, Calvin and his father were all packed up for the week of camping. Calvin was a little upset, okay _really_ upset that Susie was coming along, but the prospect of getting to go to the Natural History Museum was overwhelming that feeling. He had grabbed Hobbes, of course, granola bars, a comfortable sleeping bag, ear muffs and plugs (his dad snored extremely loudly), and a couple pairs of striped red T-shirts.

The Dirkins were following Dad and Calvin's car to Itchy Island, so Calvin didn't have to deal with Susie that day, because when they arrived eight hours later, it was dinner-time. Dad and Mr. Dirkins set up the tents while Calvin, Hobbes, Susie, and Mrs. Dirkins cooked the hotdogs that the Dirkins had brought.

"Thanks for letting us camp with you, sir," Susie gushed to Dad, "We usually don't go on a vacation, but I like to camp, and when Daddy," she turned to her father, "heard that you were going camping, he immediately asked if we could come with you."

Dad smiled at her. "Thank you Susie, for admitting that it's _amazing_ " he looked pointedly at Calvin, "unlike some people I could mention."

Calvin stuck out his tongue at his father.

When Dad and Mr. Dirkins had finished with putting up the tents, the five campers ate. The hot dogs were extremely good, while the s'mores they had after were over cooked. Okay, they were on fire, but this time, it had nothing to do with Calvin. Susie was cooking her s'more above the fire when she was bitten by one of Itchy Island's famous nuclear mosquitoes. She shrieked and swung her marshmallow around wildly, knocking both her parents unconscious.

Dad leapt up, grabbed Susie's parent's and pulled them away from the fire. Meanwhile, Susie ran smack into Calvin, who was knocked over into Hobbes, who slid towards the fire. Calvin dropped his marshmallow and grabbed his best friend right before he slid into the fire! So, yeah, not Calvin's fault.

The next day, the Derkins looked about ready to get on their way back home before another disaster happened, but Dad convinced them to all go swimming. The lake was cold, but they managed to have fun. The only problem was Calvin. He didn't want to go into the lake without Hobbes, so dad put Hobbes in a life vest and tied him to Calvin using a zip cord and some string.

They splashed around for about half an hour, before Susie's father suggested that they get out and make lunch. While Dad made lunch (baked potatoes on a grill suspended above the fire) Susie's parents took her and Calvin on a short nature hike. They were astounded to see a wild Osprey fly around, dive, and catch a fish in its talons.

When they returned to camp, Dad had lunch ready and told them a ghost story about the first settlement by England in America, Roanoke. "When the person in charge of Roanoke had left to get supplies." Dad told them, "and maybe even some more men for the colony, he had been delayed about two and a half years because of a war with Spain. When he returned, nothing was left besides one word carved into a piece of wood: _Croatoan_. No one knows what happened to the people, just that the word left was the name of a tribe of indians, and an island."

After Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie recovered from the scary tale, Calvin and Susie's fathers went off to paint an island in the distance while Susie's mother read them a story, _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ to be exact. "Cool," said Calvin after Susie's mother had read the first five chapters of the book. So Harry's special because Voldemort's curse didn't kill him, but rebounded and killed Voldemort. Awesome!"

This went on for the rest of the week. They ate, they did something together, they made lunch, two parents did something while one read them part of the book, and repeat. Calvin, much to his father's delight, didn't do a single thing for G.R.O.S.S., telling Hobbes, "We're on a well deserved vacation."

So, when they left Itchy Island for another year, Calvin's father took him to see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. When they got home at around nine that evening, Calvin's mother was waiting for them. "How'd it go, honey," she asked Calvin.

"Great, Mom," he responded, "We read the first _Harry Potter_ , went on nature hikes, and played in the lake. It was awesome!"

"I'm glad you had fun, honey," Mom said, smiling, "By the way," she turned to her husband, "I picked out a name for our daughter. _Gwynn_."

"Nooooooooo!"

Three more months.


	6. The Grind Begins Again!

"Never!"

"Come on, Calvin! It's only the first day of school!"

"But I don't wanna go to second grade!"

"Face it, Calvin. Summer's over!"

"No, Mom. Please, no!"

Calvin had propped himself in the doorway so his mother wouldn't be able to push him out. It was September 1st and Calvin had fought, tooth and nail, not to go to school today.

"Honey!" Mom shouted, "Can you come here, please! I can't kick our son out the door, I'm eight and a half months pregnant!"

This was true. Calvin was due to have a new baby sister in exactly two weeks. Her name was Gwynn and she was going to destroy his life, he just knew it.

"Come on, Calvin," his father was here, "I met your teacher, Mrs. Wurtz, she's extremely nice and won't hurt you."

"NO!"

"She told me that on the first week or so of school you'll learn about dinosaurs."

Complete silence.

"Alright," Calvin admitted defeat, "I guess I'll go to the bus stop."

"Don't forget your provision pack, Spaceman Spiff," Calvin's parents had figured out about his other identity.

 _Spiff is racing across the land, in a quest to learn about ancient creatures. Unfortunately for our hero, the only ones who even know about these creatures are those who worship the god "Nollij"._

 _Spiff races toward an alien outpost were a larger ship, known to hold followers of "Nollij" is about to dock. Will he make it in time!?_

Calvin rushed as fast as he could toward the school bus, then noticed Susie was about to enter right before him. He screeched to a halt.

 _Spiff sees an alien ship boarding the larger transport. He hits the brake, but..._

POW!

"Susie, are you alright?" Calvin asked, picking himself up off the ground, "I'm so sorry!"

"I'm okay," she responded, "Thanks for apologizing."

Later, when they got to school, Calvin shifted back into "Imagination Mode."

 _Spiff is racing across a plain toward the temple of followers. He is glad to see that the main priest has died, and in her place is a new leader. Spiff hopes that she is willing to divulge the secrets of the ancient reptiles, called Dinosaurs._

Calvin rushed into the school, ran past his old classroom, up the stairs to the second grade room, past the third graders, and into his new classroom. Mrs. Wurtz was there, waiting for her new class.

"Hello, Calvin," she said, smiling, "I bet you're excited because we're learning about dinosaurs, aren't you? I thought that dinosaurs, which kids like you typically like, would be a good introduction to the school year."

Calvin nodded, then asked, "Can I see your teaching certificate?"

"Of course, Calvin," she responded getting up, "thank you for reminding me to put up my teaching certificate."

She got up, pulled her certificate out of her desk drawer, and hung it on the wall behind her. Calvin sat down at a desk in the front row and waited for the rest of his class. Later, when the entire class had taken their seats, the teacher stood up and told them, "Hello, Class. My name is Mrs. Wurtz, but please call me Mrs. W. Today we are going to learn a little about dinosaurs. I thought that it would be a good way to start off the school year."

Calvin looked around the classroom. He saw most of his old classmates, but noticed, to his joy, that Moe seemed to have flunked first grade and was repeating it! Calvin almost jumped up and down with joy!

When Calvin got off the bus, for the first time in known history, he was happy and liked school! I don't know what was wrong with him, but it must have been serious.

When he got home, Calvin noticed that Hobbes didn't pounce on him, and his mom wasn't home. He went to the counter and saw that a note was taped onto it. The note read:

 _Calvin,_

 _I have been feeling pains in my stomach which means that I am going into labor. You are going to have a baby sister two weeks early! I hope that you will love her like I loved your Aunt Greta._

 _See you soon, Mom_

Calvin couldn't believe it! He was getting his sister tonight! He charged upstairs and saw Hobbes lying on his bed.

"Hobbes! We have an emergency! My baby sister is coming tonight!"

Before Hobbes could respond, Calvin heard the main door burst open. "Calvin!" his father called up the stairs, "get in the car! We're going to the hospital!"

Calvin grabbed Hobbes and charged downstairs. He grabbed a new book about dinosaurs he'd gotten when they went to the museum on the last day of summer, rushed out the door, and jumped into the car.

Later, when they arrived at the hospital, Calvin, Hobbes, and Dad rushed into the Emergency Ward and Dad asked if they knew where he could find Mom.

"Yes, we know where to find your wife, she's in labor. But, I'm afraid your son can't go in. He looks about seven and only six and younger can go in. They aren't as messy, you know."

"But he is six! His birthday is in a month, on October 14th!"

"Oh, then he can go into the room where your wife will be put when she's given birth. Is that alright?" he asked Calvin.

Calvin nodded, "I've got a new book to read, so I can do that until I see my baby sister."

"Right this way, sir."

Ten minutes later, Calvin was waiting in his mother's room, when Dad burst through the door, wheeling his wife in a wheelchair. In Calvin's tired mother's arms was the newest addition to Calvin's family. Gwynn looked small and she was grimacing, her eyes closed tightly. But all Calvin thought about her was that she was a Surprise to Destroy Reality.


	7. Unloved

"Calvin! Your mother is still in the hospital! I don't have time for this! Please go to the bus, NOW!"

It was the day after Gwynn was born Calvin had spent most of the night at the hospital, talking to his mom and reading his book. He'd looked at his little sister quite a lot. She was the big deal in the room and all that anyone had done was talk about her. For once in his life, Calvin felt unimportant.

When he got to the bus stop, Susie noticed his bad mood. "What's wrong, Calvin?" she asked, concerned.

"I now have a baby sister. Her name is Gwynn and she was born last night." Calvin responded, sighing, "And now I'm of little to no, probably no, importance to my so-called "family"."

Susie seemed ecstatic, and also seemed to have missed the last half of his sentence, "Really, Calvin! You have a baby sister!? Can I see her? CanIcanIcanIcanIcanI? Pleeeeeease!"

Calvin ignored her, making her ridiculous pleading moot.

Later that day, when Calvin got home from school, he opened the door to his house and said, "I'm home."

No Hobbes pounced on him, no scrapes came on him, he didn't roll across the street. Calvin was completely alone. He went upstairs to his room, but heard his mom call from the living room, "Calvin! Come here, I just got home an hour ago and I want you to meet your baby sister!"

Calvin slumped toward the door to the living room. He opened it and saw that his mother, Gwynn, and Hobbes were all in the living room. Hobbes waved and said, "Hey, Calvin, how's it going? Isn't your sister the greatest. She loves to give me hugs."

Calvin looked at him, his eyes bugged open. He managed a "Hi mom", then slipped back to his room to do his homework, a drawing of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

This horrible cycle continued for a month, and soon it was October 12th. It was a Thursday, and Calvin arrived home from school, muttered, "I'm home", and, when Hobbes didn't pounce on him, went up to his room to work on his homework. Hobbes was to busy playing with his new best friend, Mom was making dinner and taking care of her daughter, Dad was working at the office, and when he got home, would play with Gwynn, and Calvin. Calvin was truly, horribly, awfully alone.


	8. Happy Early Birthday!

The next day at school, Calvin turned in his homework, sat down in his seat, and learned about how to add fractions. When the day was almost over, Mrs. W. said to the class, "Class, today is a very special day. Tomorrow is Calvin's birthday, so he is going to get to pick something out of the birthday bucket."

Calvin sat up. "Mrs. W., What's the birthday bucket?" he asked.

"This," Mrs. W. said while pulling up a large 5-gallon bucket that said "Happy Birthday!" on it.

"you get to pick one thing out of this bucket, Calvin. It's my birthday present to you. Happy Early Birthday!"

"Happy Birthday!" the class chanted.

Calvin got up and looked into the bucket. He saw a bunch of candy but grabbed one of his favorites, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

"Now, Calvin," Mrs. W. said, "Don't eat that until you're on the bus, okay? If you eat it during class, I'm going to have to take it away from you. And the birthday bucket will not be used for the rest of the school year."

Calvin nodded, then stuffed the candy into his backpack. It looked like his day was looking up.

When he got off the bus, Calvin had already eaten at least half of his Reese's. He hopped off and ran toward his house. As he did, the weight and memories of being alone seemed to weigh down on him. Calvin slowed to a crawl, then opened the door. Hobbes, like normal now, didn't pounce out on him. He passed the door to the living room, which was open. Inside, Calvin saw his mom slam shut a book and say, "Hi, Calvin, how was school?"

"It was great! I got to go into the birthday bucket and got a piece of candy!"

"That's great sweetheart, uh-huh" Mom responded, nonchalantly, she was taking care of the baby again.

Calvin saw Hobbes and asked, "Hey, Hobbes! Want some candy?"

"No," Hobbes responded, "I'd rather play with your sister."

Calvin stood stunned. Hobbes wanted Calvin's sister more than _food_! And this was candy! Hobbes never took Calvin over food! Calvin stormed u to his room and slammed the door. he ate the rest of his Reese's Cups and threw the package across the room. It landed in the shadows, and with the ripples in the paper, the shadows looked like tiger stripes.

Calvin pounced on the empty bag and took out his anger from the last month on it in an animal rage. He frightened himself, even. After ten minutes going rounds with the bag, the only sign it had ever existed was the chocolate on Calvin's face and the wrappers of Reese's Cups across the floor. Calvin had completely disintegrated the bag.

He collapsed on his bed and fell asleep. When Calvin woke up, his mom was shaking him. "Calvin, wake up," she said, "It's time for dinner. You need to get up."

Calvin managed to get out of his bed, follow his mom downstairs, and sit down at the table. Dinner was the usual gloop. Calvin forced it down. His sister grabbed some of the table and launched it into Calvin's face. Calvin grimaced and wiped off his face, then stormed upstairs to go to sleep.

Calvin was up until almost midnight. He heard voices downstairs, the baby crying, and other things. He was also worried that no one would remember his birthday. He didn't think they would.


	9. A Not-So-Happy Birthday

The next morning, Calvin woke up to hear the sounds of birds screeching. He looked out the window and saw a magical sight. His parents were setting up a bouncy castle for his birthday! They remembered! He ran downstairs and out the door. He ran up to his mom and hugged her. "Thanks, mom," he managed, choked with emotion.

"What do you mean thank you?" his father responded, "This is for your sister, not you."

Calvin gaped in horror, "B-but, it's my birthday."

His Mother scratched her head. "It is?" she asked, "Oh, well that's not important, anyway. Like you."

She shoved him away. Calvin backed up in disbelief. His parents didn't want him. He ran back into his house, up the stairs, and into his room, slamming the door. He jumped on his bed and was about to pull the covers above his head when he noticed something strange. There was an orange dust in the room. The dust solidified into little scraps of orange plastic paper. The bag he had torn up last night!

It formed into Hobbes who turned to Calvin and said, "You aren't important. You aren't wanted. I like your sister more, so does everyone else. I guess since no one wants you, my stomach does."

Hobbes pounced and Calvin felt the jaws gripping his leg. It was getting torn off.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

Calvin looked around. There was no one there. He checked his body. Barely a scratch on him, and definitely not any tiger bites. He opened his bedroom door and went down the stairs. No one was home. Had his parents truly left him? Had they really hated him? Calvin broke down. The stress of the last few months, and the last month, in particular, had broken him. He was alone, unwanted, hated, and now seven-year-old.

He had been crying for at least ten minutes, when he heard a car pull up into the driveway. He looked out the window and saw his parent's car come up the driveway. They'd probably just left something behind, Calvin thought. So, when his parents stepped through the door, holding Gwynn, Calvin turned his back on them. He was in his pink pajamas and didn't have much dignity, but he thought he'd ignore their taunts anyway.

His parents were worried when they saw their new seven-year-old son in pink PJs, with red-rimmed eyes, and deliberately facing away from them.

Dad rushed up to him and asked, "What's wrong, Calvin?"

"You know what's wrong!" Calvin snapped back, "You left me because you don't care about me. Ever since _she_ ," he pointed at his sister in his mom's hands, "joined the family, and a couple months before that, too, I might add, I've been nothing to you. You hate me."

His father and mother stared at each other. "Calvin," his mother said, shocked, "We don't hate you. Your sister just takes a lot of energy and time. We love you very much."

"Prove it!"

"We can," his father responded, "What'd you think we'd been doing while we were gone? We were setting up your birthday party!"

Calvin looked astounded. "Really?" he asked.

"Of course," his mother smiled, "You've been doing very good at school lately, and you've done much better then we expected with your new sister, so we thought you deserved a reward."

"No go get dressed, son," His father told Calvin, "You've got a big day ahead of you."

Thirty minutes later, Calvin and his family arrived at the park, where his parents had set up decorations. Susie and her family were there, as well as half of Calvin's class and their families. There was a bouncy flying saucer, a Stupendous Man strong man-hammer, and even a Tracer Bullet water-gun fight going on. Calvin was astounded. His parents had done all this? And for _him_?

"Happy Birthday, Calvin," his mother said, giving him a hug.

Gwynn, who was in her mother's other arm, said, "Ca-veen?"

Mom was astonished while Calvin raced off to join his friends.

Later that day, when it was lunch time they all went into the rec center and had Wild Rice Soup, one of Calvin's favorites.

"Time for presents!" Dad called, "will everyone please go get their presents from their vehicles. Calvin, stay here, okay?"

"But, Dad," Calvin said, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Then go, but don't take to long, okay?"

"Alright, dad."

After Calvin had done his business, he went back into the main rec room and was about to enter when a large, furry, orange blur streaked across his vision. There was no POW! like usual, so when Calvin opened his eyes, all he could see was Hobbes, giving him a great, big hug.

"Calvin," Hobbes, said, "I'm sorry for not paying any attention to you since your sister was born, can you forgive me?"

Calvin embraced Hobbes, "Sure, buddy."

A minute later, when everyone entered back into the rec center, Calvin was sitting on the stool in the middle of the room, as if nothing had happened. the only difference, his stuffed tiger was at his side.

That night, Calvin was reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which he had gotten from the Dirkins, when he noticed that it was snowing. He shook Hobbes' shoulder so that he would notice (Hobbes was re-reading Sorcerer's Stone).

When Hobbes saw, Calvin lifted up his new sled that he had gotten from his parents and asked, "Tomorrow, do you want to go sledding?"

Hobbes shrugged. "Why not?"


	10. Epilogue: Six Years Later

Calvin opened his new Playstation 3. He was now thirteen, and it was his birthday. Susie, who he had started dating at the beginning of seventh grade, had given him this present as a show of her love, but Calvin sensed all was not right in the world. His six-year-old sister was now on the prowl, lurking in the shadows, her face covered in jealousy. Calvin excused himself from the table, after thanking Susie of course, and headed toward his sister.

Gwynn noticed him and started crawling away, trying to get under the porch, but Calvin grabbed her leg and pulled her out from under it.

"What's wrong, Gwynn?" he asked, knowing full well what was wrong.

"Why do you get all the presents and attention? I'm the youngest, I should get it!"

"Well, you are the youngest, so you do get the attention most of the time, but it's my birthday, so I get presents. I remember on your very first birthday. Almost no one looked at me until my birthday two months later, then I got the attention for a day before you got the spotlight again. So, because of that I think that I deserve getting a little attention once in a while."

Gwynn pouted, she obviously didn't care. Calvin sighed.

" _I_ have a present for _you_ ," he said, exasperated, "He's in my bedroom, on my bed. I used to play with him all the time. With him, you'll never feel alone again, you'll always have his attention," Calvin said, then added as an afterthought, "unless he's hungry or sleeping."

"Okay," Gwynn looked a little excited, "Who is this person?"

"I never said he was a _person_ ," Calvin retorted.

He opened the door.

POW!

"Well," Calvin grumbled, "at least _that_ hasn't changed," then he turned to Gwynn, "I guess we don't have to go all the way to my bedroom."

Gwynn gawked at Hobbes who, at Calvin's large size, had only been able to knock Calvin down the length of the sidewalk.

"He- he's real!"

"Of course he's real," said Hobbes, referring to himself in the third person, "he, I mean _I_ , have always been real."

"Gwynn," Calvin said, turning to his sister, "I'm giving you Hobbes. You need to take good care of him for me."

Hobbes tilted his head, "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"No, buddy," Calvin responded, smiling, "I just won't have the time to play with you as much as I use to. What with homework, Susie, and getting a job soon I thought it would be best to get you a friend to last another six years. Unless you'd rather spend the next fifteen to twenty years in a cardboard box."

"I'm good with what I've got," Hobbes decided, "but on one condition. When Gwynn here," he turned to the little girl, "that is your name, right?" he asked.

Gwynn nodded and muttered, "Yes."

Hobbes turned back to Calvin, "when Gwynn gets your age, I go back to you, deal? That way I can stay in your family forever."

"Deal," Calvin said, extending his right hand to shake Hobbes' right paw, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a birthday party to get to. Calvin started walking away, he turned around. "Hobbes, old buddy, show her Calvinball and Stupendous Man and Spaceman Spiff and Tracer Bullet, but give those characters new names." He smiled at his sister, "They're yours now."

And he walked away, to leave childhood behind forever and to become an adult.

Later in Gwynn's life, she gave Hobbes back to Calvin on her fourteenth birthday. Calvin was twenty and engaged to Susie, he had become quite rich selling Spaceman Spiff and Stupendous man comics, while writing a series of Tracer Bullet Mystery novels. But in every novel, every comic book, there was a sidekick who, amazingly, happened to be a tiger, or had the name Hobbes.

Calvin and Susie had two kids: a boy, who they named Scott, after Calvin's father, and a daughter, who they named Kasey, a combination of their names and, as Calvin joked, a spin of his favourite pizza place. They lived a happy life and still are as this book is being written. Calvin and Susie are both thirty-eight and happy. Scott is six and the youngest sibling, while Kasey is ten and loving school, just like her mother.

One day, when Scott was home from school (he had the flu), Calvin was working at home on writing the script for a new Spaceman Spiff Movie. He heard that his son was doing anything but resting, so he went upstairs, past his son's room and into a little closet filled with Captain Napalm comics, tuna, and salmon. There, on a chair in the center of the mess, was Hobbes.

He looked up. "Calvin," he said, "I've read all of these a hundred times. Soon you'll have to give me some of your own comics to read."

"I don't think so," Calvin responded, "I have a new friend for you to meet."

"Who?"

"My son, Scott. He isn't the most popular kid in school. He needs some friends, so I think that you could do the same for him as you did for me over thirty years ago. Give him a friend."

"Okay," said Hobbes, looking back at his comic book, "I'll set him up with another tiger I know, a guy called Socrates, prankster."

"Hobbes!"

"Okay, okay. I'll be his friend."

"Then follow me."

 **And so, the legacy continued…**


End file.
